Credible Possibilities
by reapergrimm
Summary: A series of short stories showcasing Kim and Ron's adventures Post-Graduation. When the world changes, so too does the business of superheroics and supervillainy. But as Team Possible learns the more they interact with Kim's cousin Jen Credible, not all villains are in playing in the same league.
1. A Possible Reunion

**A Possible Reunion**

 _The usual boilerplate disclaimer. I do not own Kim Possible. Kim Possible is the intellectual property of Bob Schooley, Mark McCorkle and the Walt Disney Corporation_

Kim awoke to the smell of someone cooking breakfast. It was fairly late in the morning, judging by the clock on the Kimmunicator. Almost noon, even. She couldn't believe she could be so exhausted after driving to Uncle Slim's in Montana. But then again, she'd never been the one to be in the driver's seat whenever the fam did road trips before. Kim had also had to deal with the constant geekfest going on between Ron and her Cousin Larry the whole time. Thank heaven that Monique agreed to come along. Kim might have gone nuts.

The trip was her father's idea. After the Lorwardian Invasion, he felt that they had to count their blessings. Appreciate the time they had with the ones they love. So he called up all the immediate family members he could and started planning a family reunion. As it turns out, the only family member who had both the space to host a large gathering and whose home wasn't damaged by the Invasion was Uncle Slim.

So it was agreed that everybody would head out to Montana for the get-together. Nana Possible flew in from Florida. Uncle Slim had already picked her up from the airport by the time Kim and the Middleton clans showed up. Kim, Ron, Larry and Monique in the Sloth. Her mom, dad, the Tweebs and Aunt June in the minivan. Kim's mother Ann felt that it shouldn't just be a Possible gathering. But that her side of the family, the Credibles should also be a part of the festivities. Hence Cousin Larry and Aunt June's tag-along.

But it wasn't just going to be Cousin Larry and Aunt June. Ann's brother Ben and his daughters Jen and Lynn were flying in from Los Diablos. Kim was looking forward to that. She never saw much of her older cousin Jen. At times, it felt like she was the only family member Kim could relate to. Jen was in the same business of saving people as Kim. But in a different way. Jen once described the difference between them as Kim being a "super spy" and that she was an "occult detective". Jen's exploits always seemed a bit out there. But as Kim's missions grew more and more bizarre, she was open to anything by this point.

As Kim got to the main floor from upstairs and made her way into the kitchen, she saw Ron at the stove.

"Morning!" Kim said in a chipper tone as she stepped forward and gave Ron a small peck on the cheek. "What's the master chef up to today?"

"Nothin' much, just cooking up some Huevos Rancheros for everybody. Or as I like to call them, Omelettes Ay-Caramba!" Ron said with his usual confidence.

"ooh-hoo! omelettes ay-caramba!" squeaked Rufus as he dashed over the counters, gathering ingredients for Ron.

"Yeah, made everything myself. You know the Ronster and his mad skills."

"That I do. So, sleep well last night? I don't know why you insisted on sharing a room with Cousin Larry." Kim asked.

"Nah. We were up most of the night. Talking about some new toy lineups, what new anime to watch this season. You know, cool stuff."

"Your geek sessions in the Sloth weren't enough? You kept going into the night once we got here?" Kim asked incredulously.

"I prefer to call it 'a convention in the Ministry of Fun'"

"Right." Kim smiled.

"Ouch!" A short yelp from behind them snapped Kim and Ron out of their conversation. Joss sheepishly rose up from behind the half wall that separated the kitchen from the hallway. Standing behind her was Uncle Slim with a rolled up newspaper.

"Now Joss. Don't go spying on your cousin and her boyfriend. It's not polite. Say you're sorry"

"Sorry, Kim. I was just... well..."

"Joss, that's a majorly disrespectful. How would you feel if someone spied on you?" Kim said.

Joss sighed. "Not good."

"Thank you. And your apology is accepted."

A muffled boom cascaded through the house. Uncle Slim closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Joss, why don't you head on over to the stables, see what your cousins Jim and Tim are up to? Hopefully, the horses haven't been stripped for parts."

"Sure thing, pa." Joss said as she dashed outside.

Uncle Slim sighed and walked inside the kitchen. He poured a glass of milk and grabbed a plate of Ron's Huevos Rancheros. As he sat down, a thought entered Kim's head.

"Where are my parents?"

"Well, your folks have headed off to the airport to pick up your Uncle Ben and his kids. They should be back soon." Slim said just before he started eating. Just as things appeared to be settling down in the kitchen, Monique strode into the room in a huff.

"Girl, it's about time you woke up! I'm at my limit having to deal your Cousin Larry. I just managed to slip away from him after I roped him into talking with your Nana."

"Man, all this negativity about my man Larry. People just need to chillax. He's good people." Ron said as he focused on his skillet.

"He may not mean any harm, but he's just SO boring! He just kept droning on about these old children's shows from the 80s and I don't know what he's talking about at ALL!" Monique protested.

"AHEM!" Uncle Slim coughed. All eyes in the kitchen fell on him. "Now, I know sometimes people can be annoying, but I've always believed that if there isn't anything nice to say about someone, don't say anything at all."

A look of mild shame washed over Monique's face. "I'm sorry, Mr. Possible. Kim, can I speak to you outside on the porch for a bit?"

As the two girls stepped outside, a smirk came over Kim's face. "Now you see why I begged you to come along. I'd go nutty if I had no-one to talk to with similar interests until my cousin Jen got here."

"Oh, you didn't just beg. You used the Puppy Dog Pout on me. That's after you told me who Jen would be bringing with her."

"I knew that there had to be a little something extra to convince you to come along. I mean, how long has it been since you've seen him?"

"Too long" Monique said almost dreamily. Then she snapped out of it. "But if he doesn't show up, you owe me, Possible. I'm not going to just be a smokescreen for your nerdy cousin for this reunion and have nothing to show for it."

Almost on cue, a car horn honked as her parent's minivan pulled up to the ranch house. "Speak of the devil." Kim quipped.

"Oh shoot!" Monique said with mild panic in her voice as she tried to straighten out her outfit.

Kim and Monique walked over to the minivan as her mother and father exited the car. But as the girls approached it became apparent that something was off. Only two extra bodies emerged from the car. A man just slightly older than her mother with short red hair, a neatly trimmed beard, square-rimmed glasses, blue eyes and slightly red skin with some loose, baggy clothes that were so much more casual than her parents.

And a teenage girl just a year or two older than the Tweebs. She had pale skin, the same blue eyes, black hair tied back into a ponytail with bangs parted off to her right side. She dressed like she put more pride in her appearance than the man. A denim jacket over a purple blouse with a black miniskirt and stockings with ankle-high boots.

"Hey Kimmie-cub!" Her father exclaimed. "Look who we found at the airport!"

"Uncle Ben! Lynn! It's so good to see you both!" Kim moved in for a hug, but only her uncle reciprocated. Lynn just sidestepped her and kept looking at her handheld console as she walked towards the ranch house.

"Tch! Rude much?" Monique snarked.

"I'm sorry Kim. Lynn's been going through a phase lately. She's not exactly proud of our family lately." Ben said somewhat sheepishly. "She's been wanting to be a part of a 'normal' family and ours is... well..."

"Well, she'll come around eventually. After all, family is what this little get-together is all about!" James said in his ever-enthusiastic tone.

"Even though a certain little-miss-someone could use a refresher in manners" Ann said under her breath.

"Where's Jen and Dave?" Kim inquired.

"Oh, Jenny had a last minute case that dropped into her lap. She had to do some preliminary investigations, but she said she'd be here eventually." Ben said with pride.

"I'm still not sure you should have allowed that, Ben. How is she supposed to get here in time?" Ann asked in a concerned tone.

"Jenny's made some friends these past few years. They can get her here in flash."

"I remember calling in favours to get to my missions. It's nice to see that Jen's starting to see some success with the agency." Kim beamed.

As the day rolled on, everyone began forming their own little groups. Joss and the Tweebs were over in the stables. Joss having been roped into Jim and Tim's fiddling with the robots. Ron and Larry were inside, having another "convention" over things they were looking at online. Lynn was just plain avoiding everyone, only staying in one place long enough to make sure her console was recharged. The adults had all gathered around the barbeque, where Uncle Slim was grilling some meat and corn for the dinner later. This left Monique and Kim alone at one of the picnic tables

"So have you figured out what you're going to do with your life now, Kim?"

"I'm actually going to stay the course. Even with all those college acceptance letters, none of them really called out to me. I figure I'll put more time in at Club Banana for the time being. But I think I'll go into childcare. Get some certification, and work at the daycare."

"That is so you. You'll be great with kids."

"Thanks! So... what are you going to do?"

Monique grew silent for a bit. "I'm thinking that I'll go into fashion. But the best schools aren't in Colorado. I'll... I'll have to move."

"Oh..." Kim realized. The sounds of summer seemed to go on for ages around them while the two girls sat in quiet contemplation.

"You know..." Kim started to say. "Just because you're going to move away doesn't mean we can't keep in touch. I mean, this is the information age. It's easier than ever to keep in touch with people."

"Right..." Monique said.

"And my missions take me all over the place. And with me no longer having to be in school everyday, I could easily stop by and see you if I wound up close enough to where you are."

"Right!"

"And I KNOW you'll go far in fashion. I mean, you're you! You've made my outfits from old rags you found lying in a chest!"

"Darn straight!"

Kim and Monique just laughed. Hearing each other out just made things easier sometimes. No, not sometimes. All the time.

Their merriment came to an end, however, when a bright light suddenly flashed in the backyard. Everybody stopped what they were doing and came over to see what was going on. Kim was getting ready to call Wade to see if he could make sense of what was happening in front of her. When all of a sudden, a strange creature flew out of the light.

It had a definitely humanoid upper body. Which was androgynous in appearance. Strong, magnificent feathered wings grew from the creature's back. While a graceful serpent's tail coiled around in the air that transitioned into the humanoid torso. Loose, billowy robes seemed to float in the air around it's arms and chest. It then produced a trumpet, and played out an elegant revelry.

On cue, a pair of human silhouettes formed in the light. As they emerged from the brilliance and everybody's eyes adjusted, their features could be seen. On the left was a young white man in his early 20s. He had loose, shoulder length brown hair with a petite goatee. He wore a brown leather jacket with a red superhero shirt underneath. The look was completed with a pair of blue jeans and combat boots.

On the right was a young woman that was apparently ready for anything. She had fair skin with black hair also at shoulder length. She had striking blue eyes complimented with black lipstick and wore what appeared to be police grade riot gear under a sleeveless brown long coat with a mantle over her shoulders. Jen and Dave had arrived.

Ben's voice could be heard through the small crowd. "Told you she'd be here in a flash."

The creature floating overhead said something. It was in a musical language that Kim was not familiar with. Jen said something in the same melodic tongue and gave a slight forward bow. The creature flew up and then back down, heading into the illumination. Once the light had completely engulfed it, the radiance began to fade away into nothing.

Jen closed her eyes and stretched her arms out above her head as to relieve some stiffness. "Oof. Sorry we're late. Had to look into some missing people in Los Diablos' south side." She then popped open her eyes and saw everybody looking at her, dumbfounded.

"Oh, right! You guys haven't seen an Outsider before. Yeah, I made an impression on some people 'upstairs'" as Jen pointed upwards "on one of my cases, so now I've been granted the privilege of extraplanar travel. Comes in handy when you need to be somewhere in a hurry."

Everybody assembled just stared onwards. Having trouble comprehending what they saw. Dave eventually locked eyes with Monique and gave her a wink. She turned her head away slightly in embarrassment before she composed herself.

"That was... um, some entrance." She managed to get out.

"You should see us when we have a full team assembled and are ready to kick some butt. Almost like a scene out of a movie." Dave said with a smile and wave of his hand.

Jen and Dave's arrival immediately became the talk of the reunion. Uncle Ben had his hands full with the other adults at the grill. All of them had questions about how his children were doing with his eldest daughter hanging out with extraplanar beings. Dave had easily slipped into being the center of attention amongst Ron, Larry, and Monique. Lynn, despite her efforts, had been pinned down by the Tweebs and Joss. It would seem the three of them would annoy the answers out of the poor girl if they had to.

Meanwhile, Jen and Kim were sitting at a picnic table. Jen had started to strip off her combat gear, and Kim was surprised by the amount weaponry Jen had concealed on her person. Nothing like the gadgets Wade had made her over the years. These seemed to be police, if not military, grade armaments. There were a pair of gauntlets that had hidden katar blades alongside grapnel lines and tasers built into them, even components to assemble a pair of bearded axes that combined into a greataxe. Which was rigged to electrocute whatever it struck.

Jen claimed that having iron and silver weapons were key in her line of work. Never knowing what you might encounter in an alley or out in the wild, it was best to keep her options open. Hence the pair of combat knives. There were various herbs, oils and trinkets to repel evil spirits. And to just to be on the safe side, a single pistol as an absolute last line of defense.

"That last one is a tad extreme, isn't it?" Kim said with mild shock in her voice.

"I rarely use it. Seeing a gun is enough for most human enemies to back off. And normal ammunition isn't reliable against the supernatural. We have to make our own custom shells to make them effective, and that takes time and money. Got to use them sparingly."

"Wow. I don't suppose you'd mind sharing what you've been up to? Last time we saw each other, you'd only just started wearing a kevlar vest for your cases."

"In a bit. I'd like to know what's up with you. Your plans. Your..." Jen cocked an eyebrow "love life, perhaps? How's dating your best friend going?"

"It feels natural. Like, we finally realized that what we had was so much more than friendship."

"So... does that mean you're 'more' than just dating these days?"

Blushing, Kim grew tense and averted her gaze. "Well..."

"I'll take that as a yes." Jen smiled. "You're lucky. A lot of boys your age are only after one thing from girls."

Kim shook her head. She needed Jen to stop talking about 'that'. "Talking from experience, are you? How are you doing in the romance department? After me and Ron got together, I couldn't help but think that you and Dave would..."

"Get together? Nah. Dave's a great guy. He always has your back. It's just that we have..." Jen darted her eyes over to Dave as he chatted up Monique, winking and laughing while Monique tried to conceal a blush. "the same tastes in romantic partners."

Turning around to look, something clicked in the back of Kim's mind. "Oh. OH!"

"Heh. It was a kind of a whammy for me too, believe it or not. It's almost like it changes your life forever." Jen snarked. "Kind of like when you graduate high school. But of course, you couldn't just have any ol' graduation ceremony, could you, Little Miss I-Fought-Aliens-On-My-Grad-Day? Sounds like it was your toughest mission yet."

"You know, normally I'd say it was 'no big', but it was big. Honestly, I'm surprised that it was Drakken that gave us the opening we needed to make the win. If they hadn't abducted him along with me, we could have been in seriously big trouble."

"No doubt. It's funny how random elements can come into play when you least expect it. Keeps you sharp. Though I doubt we'll be seeing any more trouble from Drakken for awhile. If ever again."

"What makes you say that?" Kim asked quizzically.

"Well, it all boils down to motivation. 'Why did Dr. Drakken seek to take over the world?' Why does anyone with that goal? Some people are motivated by an ideology. Even faith. They seek to better the world through world domination. Or just plain ego. While his ego was indeed a factor in his motives, it wasn't the underlying cause of his actions."

"Where do you get that from?" Kim said as she raised an eyebrow.

"It's in all his past crimes. Including that awful rap for shampoo. I feel that they were all cries for respect. Drakken's smart. For sure. He just doesn't think things through. He's too 'in the moment' for his own good. He wanted to take over the world but I doubt he actually wanted to rule it. The act of taking it over was the goal. Not the means TO an end. No, Drakken wanted people to acknowledge and respect his intellect and skills. If he took over the world, nobody could deny his genius."

Kim stared at Jen a little wide-eyed. Everything she just said made perfect sense. Going over all of Drakken's schemes, they were for revenge against people who wronged him. Or they were about proving his genius in some way.

"I suspect he was bullied a lot growing up. And when people are bullied enough, they snap. Some sink into deep depression and withdraw from the world. Others lash out in any way they can. Few set such lofty goals for themselves after their breaking point. But Drakken did. And while he didn't accomplish the goal he set for himself, he completed his mission nonetheless. Dr. Drakken SAVED the world. He got accommodations. A medal ceremony at the UN. He's on the cover of magazines. And all that comes with the gratitude and respect from the people. Maybe not the supervillain community. But they're a bunch of kooks in my opinion."

Kim sat in contemplation. She knew for a fact that her father indeed bullied Drakken in college. And continued to be dismissive of him. "So... if Drakken's got the respect he's always wanted..."

"Then why would he continue being a supervillain?"

A small chuckle escaped Kim's mouth. "Guess time will tell. But I hope you're right."

Jen smirked. "So do I. You know, I always wanted to take psychiatry? Never did have enough money for a good school. And these days... Well, the agency allows me to help people. Just in a different way. Also, the money is nice when clients can pay."

A small feeling of discomfort swept over Kim's face. "I've never been comfortable accepting money for missions. I mean, I help people. Save their lives. Save the world! I don't think it's right to ask for money in exchange for that."

"I hear you. I wasn't too cozy with the idea when I first started the agency. But... expenses kept popping up. Equipment. Travel. Heck, even keeping my family afloat at times. After a certain point, you need to see a profit in order to keep going."

Kim was quiet for a moment. "I didn't know you were having trouble."

"Well, I wasn't going to bother my underage cousin with it. Besides, I managed. And you will too. Whatever you do going forward with your life now that you're out of high school, money is going to be a part of it. You're lucky. You have two parents in a loving, stable marriage. Who both manage to work in well-paying jobs and somehow found a way to raise three kids. Look around you, Kim. Yours is the only family at this reunion who is still traditionally nuclear. I mean, Uncle Slim divorced his wife over work. Even if they still remain civil. Aunt June's a widow. And my mom..."

The mood suddenly dropped a little bit. Jen rarely talked about her mom. What little bits of information Kim did know about Uncle Ben's ex-wife came few and far between. But whenever she did became the subject of a conversation, it was never pleasant. People either talked about her with great sadness, bitter hate, or outright disappointment. All Kim knew was that before her aunt left her family, Uncle Ben was a respected government scientist. Now he worked as a forensic science technician in Los Diablos. The two were connected.

"Well, my mom is gone." Jen said as she composed herself. "At any rate, Kim. You've only really needed to worry about money when you've wanted some new clothes or a new car you couldn't afford on your allowance. You'll find new challenges and responsibilities pop up as you start to develop your independence."

"I'm ready for any new responsibilities that come my way. You're talking to a girl who was head of the cheerleading squad, helped out with numerous other clubs, and mastered 16 different styles of kung fu. I can do anything." Kim said with confidence, hoping to cheer up the conversation.

"Can you though?" Jen said darkly. Her expression was a stern one. "If you're truly ready, then you're ready to have your limits pushed. Not just physically. But morally, ethically, and emotionally."

"Jeez. Drama much?" Kim tried to remain composed, but something about Jen's expression was unnerving her.

"Life isn't a game, Kim." Jen was quiet for moment. "Last Halloween... Last Halloween I came to a realization. Something I didn't even think about for too long. I... can never take a person's life. But I am under no obligation to save the lives of my enemies."

Rattled, Kim spoke. "...What?"

"... Last Halloween, my old enemy, the Prankster had his last 'performance'. It was the usual chaos. Explosions everywhere. People dying, running in panic. I had finally located him and gave chase. As I closed in, he grabbed this woman off the street and held her hostage with a toy gun that shot acid. He was so... _smug_. So sure that he'd be getting away again. But what I saw in that woman's eyes wasn't fear. Not even boredom. It was annoyance."

Kim steeled herself. Something bad happened that night, and she wasn't sure she could handle what was coming next.

"We both thought she was just some poor young woman on her way to a costume party. But she wasn't IN costume. I saw it. Her eyes. They changed. I've seen those dark eyes before. The Prankster didn't have some poor, helpless girl in his grasp. He was trying to use a vampire as a shield. I could have warned him. But I didn't. It felt like... he finally got what was coming to him. And before he even knew it, he was missing the top half of his head. Needless to say, he was dead."

Kim was stunned. Not only had her cousin that she respected allowed her enemy to die in such a horrific manner, but he died by the hands of a vampire. A vampire, of all things! The idea of such a creature just walking down the same street as you and being completely unaware of what kind of danger you could be in was very disturbing even to think about.

"Please tell me you at least dealt with her. Please?" Kim slightly begged.

Jen chuckled. "Sorry Kim. I did confront her. She realized that I allowed what happened in that alley to come to pass. She said that I was 'different' from most people for doing so. Even as I reached for something to stake her with, she just turned into mist and disappeared. I tracked her down for a couple of weeks, but things didn't add up. First off, I kept running into dead vampires that had been drained of _their_ blood. Which was weird. But when I finally caught up to her, she was in a nightclub, seemingly dancing the night away. It wasn't until some guys escorted a girl out the back that I realized her game."

"She was there to prey upon those that themselves prey upon the... 'intoxicated'. I saw what those men were going to do to that poor girl in that back street. And I saw that vampire toy with them. Put the fear of the heavens into them. Get inside their heads and make them see things that weren't there. One ran out into the street and was run over. The others weren't so lucky." Jen smirked as she said those last words.

"When she finally acknowledged my presence, she introduced herself as Tasha. As it turns out, Tasha has some bizarre mutation. For reasons not even she knows, she can subside on animal blood. Any other vampire I've come across who tries that winds up suffering malnutrition. She can also feed on other vampires. Which definitely puts her at the top of most food chains. And yet... she retains her morality. She kills, but she only kills those that deserve it. Those that prey on the helpless."

Kim was having trouble taking this all in. A vampire, that fed on other vampires? That acted as some sort of back alley vigilante? And Jen wasn't DOING anything about it?

She started to raise her voice in anger and concern. "Why didn't you take advantage of your opening and deal with her? She's a killer! No better than that Prankster!"

"No, Kim. She was so much better than the Prankster. The Prankster killed people because it amused him. Like it was some kind of game. Always pushing his crimes further. Testing how far people would hold back against him. Like a child, trying to figure out how he can get away with whatever he wants. Tasha. Tasha kills people that slip through the system. Or abuse it."

"... Abuse it? I don't like where this is going."

"I was almost physically sick myself when I found out. See, as I started to make friends with Tasha, we began to look into how the Prankster escaped for the last time. But unlike my previous investigations, I had a telepath with me this time. And she found out something horrible. The Prankster didn't escape. He was deliberately placed in a shoddy cell so he could leave at will."

Kim went pale. "Why would someone DO that?!"

"That was the million dollar question. So we started putting the pressure on people as our investigation took us higher up in the prison system. As it turns out... there was an unofficial program in effect. Designed by the elite of the city. They called it the 'Urban Renewal Initiative'. Create a bunch of sub-par detention facilities that couldn't contain supercriminals. All so they could continue to prey upon the unfortunates of Los Diablos. It was just a fancy way for them to kill the poor."

Kim started to swoon. Her mind was reeling. This was such a colossal betrayal of the people. She just couldn't comprehend how someone could do something this horrid.

"Well, I couldn't let it stand. Nor could I really do anything about it myself. I knew about the corruption in the city. But I was powerless to do anything about it. These... 'people'... they knew where I lived. Where my family lives. But Tasha... She had nothing to fear. So we found out who all the guilty parties were. I showed my dad everything we had. He contacted Global Justice. And then Tasha painted the town red that night. With their leaders dead, the goons panicked and did what they could to save their own hides. Not that it did them much good. GJ came and picked up the stragglers. They've been in Los Diablos since New Year's. Gutting and reworking the city's management."

"How is this not national news?! This is a travesty! All those people..."

"Would riot. In Los Diablos and all over America. Not to mention that a vampire was behind the killings. GJ likes their secrets. Such a colossal abuse of power. Not to mention the fact that there are blood drinking immortals are out there are things they very much like to keep in the dark. So it's been very hush-hush. Your little hacker could find all the info in GJ's systems. He'd just need to know what to look for."

Kim was just silent. She felt sick. "All those people..."

"Deserved justice. But justice only works if the system works. And when it doesn't, people do not get closure. They become unable to move on from their trauma. When justice is denied, vengeance becomes the only alternative. Some things can't be forgiven. A price must be paid. Consequences must be felt. And if you think that it's wrong to take a life to avenge someone, ask yourself this: 'Can you forgive Hitler? Bin Laden?' Our military kills. As do policemen, when all other options become exhausted. By protesting the death of one serial killer, you diminish and devalue the lives of all his victims."

"Jen... I'm not liking the person you're becoming. We have to be better than our enemies. We have to set an example. If we just become judge, jury and executioner, it's just a gradual decline until we're no better than the people we fight."

A slight scowl formed on Jen's face. "The big difference between me and you, Kim, is that you fight supervillains. I fight _monsters_. Sometimes literal monsters straight out of myth and legend. Sometimes monsters in the form of men. I've faced zombies, demons, and people who took the term 'human resources' way too seriously. I've even gone up against the Bogeyman himself. Who is not evil in the way you and I understand it. But he's so far removed from mortal life that his views have become callous by default."

"And that justifies this behaviour? They are bad, so I have to be prepared to make unethical choices? I'm sorry, Jen. But that's unacceptable. I think... you need to get this Tasha out of your life. She's a bad influence on you."

"Kim, killing is a neutral act. WHY you kill is what matters. Just ask your boyfriend over there." Jen pointed. Kim turned around to see Ron and Monique laughing at something Dave said in the group. "He killed those aliens because they were going to kill _you_ and mount your carcass as a trophy. If that's not reason to kill someone, to save someone you love, I don't know what is."

The wheels inside Kim's mind began to turn as she slowly turned back around to face Jen. "That was very personal... I never posted that on the website."

Smirking, Jen said. "I have my sources."

Kim weighed the facts in her head. Ron and Wade would never betray her trust about something so close to home. Drakken had left to check on the walkers when Warhok and Warmonga broke free of his vines. The only one who witnessed Warhok's promise to Warmonga was...

"Shego! Shego told you what happened on Grad Day! Why were you talking to her?"

"We keep in contact every now and then. When me and Dave first started out, he received visions of trouble in Go City. We wound up working with Shego just after she left Team Go, but before she made a name for herself as a mercenary. But that is all I'll say on that case. It was a very... personal experience for all involved. And I won't betray those trusts." Jen stated calmly.

"Jen, I'm very worried for you. Working with a vampire. Keeping in contact with someone like Shego. Even psychoanalyzing supervillains like Drakken... You used to be someone with better standards than that. It's like you're trying to justify what you're doing with your life now. If this keeps up, I'm afraid for your future."

"It's not that bad, Kim. I mean, I've seen the afterlife. That Outsider that brought me here is from one of the Celestial Realms. There is a lot more to reality than the flawed laws of man. It's how I can keep fighting the good fight. Knowing that for all the evil that exists out there, there is good as well. Ready and willing to face the horror."

All of a sudden, Uncle Slim called out that the burgers and hot dogs were ready. Perking up, Jen said "Ooh! I'm starving. I haven't eaten since breakfast this morning. Sorry, Kim. We'll have to finish this after we eat."

Kim just stared off into space for awhile while she thought over everything she talked about with her cousin.

"Kimmie-Cub! Come on down and rustle up some chow!" James called out as Slim and Nana gave him disapproving looks.

As Kim began to lumber over to the BBQ, Ron runs up behind her. "Boo-yah! Time for some major feastage!"

"woo! feastage!" Rufus squeaked as he popped out of Ron's pocket. As he passed her, Kim grabbed the end of his shirt.

"KP?" Ron questioned as he began to turn around in confusion. But he was silenced by a great big hug. Kim sniffed a little as she buried her head on Ron's shoulder. Ron wrapped his arms around Kim and patted her head as everybody began lining up for dinner.

 **Author's Notes**

 **So this is my first foray into writing. Many thanks to Blackbird for allowing me to use his characters Jen Credible and Dave Seer for this. Also a shout-out to my editor, who has requested to be listed as "Diana".**

 **The idea behind this short story is that I realized that the surname "Credible" works exceptionally well for Ann Possible's maiden name. That, and Larry Credible = Very Credible. Given that Blackbird already introduced a character with this surname, it was just a little tweak to make her Kim's cousin. The premise was interesting to me, and it might be the start of it's own continuity.**


	2. Cobalt

**Cobalt**

 _The usual boilerplate disclaimer. I do not own Kim Possible. Kim Possible is the intellectual property of the Walt Disney Corporation and the creation of Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle._

 _Jen Credible and Cobalt are the creations of Blackbird._

The urban glow of downtown Tokyo illuminated the corporate office building of the Nakasumi Toys Corporation. Most of the company's employees had left for the night, leaving only cleaning and security staff behind to wander the halls. Yet, despite both these workers and the best security systems money could buy, an unseen trespasser was making her way through the building.

It didn't take her long to reach her target: Nakasumi's CEO office at the top of the building. The two guards placed at the doors were no obstacle. All it took to get one of them to wander off was to hack his earpiece with her headset, and he was off to examine some unheard noise. A quick taser to the small of his back took care of the remaining sentry. As expected, he carried a key card she could use to slip into the office undetected.

Nakasumi's office was grand and spacious. Pictures of his previous best selling toys lined the wall to the thief's right that was adjacent to the floor to roof windows overlooking Shinjuku. At the opposite end of the room from the double doorway entrance was the prize: Mr. Nakasumi's personal desktop computer atop an elegant oak desk. Silently closing the large doors behind her, the intruder quickly made her way across the room and turned on the computer in the dark office.

Once the login box filled the monitor, she stuck a USB drive into the tower under the desk. Another box opened on the screen, a loading bar quickly filling itself as random numbers and letters filled the login box. Yet, when it seemed like the USB had cracked Nakasumi's username and password, the screen went black. Then a stylized green and yellow K and P shot forward, followed by a little jingle that went "deet-deet-di-deet-deet".

The lights in the office snapped on, and a ventilation grill dropped down from the ceiling. A svelte young redhead with long hair and green eyes in a purple t-shirt with a brown backpack and black pants with a purple stripe down the sides of her legs deftly slipped down from the unseen duct. She flipped her hair and placed her hands on her hips, a confident smirk on her face.

Kim's impressive arrival was immediately undermined by a tumbling sound in the vents above. A high-pitched yelp echoed out of the opening, followed by a blonde young man in a black shirt and grey cargo pants immediately falling down on his rear from the duct. He groaned and rubbed his rump as he stood up.

Examining his waist and behind, Ron proudly exclaimed "Boo-ya! No pants lossage this time! Halfaversery belt saves the day!"

Kim gave Ron an amused grin, then turned her attention to the thief at Nakasumi's desk. She was... new, to say the least. She was wearing a skintight black suit that definitely confirmed her slim feminine physique. The suit had cobalt blue armour pieces on her chest, shoulders, forearms and shins with pale blue electrical lines akin to circuitry covering her ensemble. Her face was completely obscured by a mask made from the same cobalt blue material as her armour and utility belt.

There were opaque blue goggles over her eyes, the lenses wide and somewhat bug-like that were connected by a small, pinched link over the bridge of the thief's nose. The circuitry lines over the lower half of the mask seemed to invoke the empty cheeks and teeth of a skull.

Cyan blue bangs with black streaks peeked out from under a black hood with two long sections of hair draped over her chest. There were small openings on the side of the hood that allowed a pair of radio antennae to extend past her head, making it seem almost as if she had elven ears. All in all, this thief looked like some manner of anime character.

Raising her hands into fists and placing her feet into a defensive position, Kim readied herself for a fight.

"Took you long enough," she quipped.

The enigmatic thief placed her right fingers on Nakasumi's desk, sliding her fingertips along its surface as she turned the corner, placing herself in front of the desk and facing Team Possible.

With an electronically filtered voice, she replied, "I could say the same to you."

"Right, like you were expecting us."

"I was, actually. Who do you think sent Nakasumi-san the warning that he was going to be the victim of a cyberattack?"

Ron raised his index finger with his mouth open as if he was about to say something, before a confused look crept across his face as he tried to process the thief's statement.

Chuckling, the thief stated, " _I_ sent the warning. Nakasumi-san is a good egg. He deserved a little warning to try and save his assets. Shame that my message contained a virus that allowed me to hack his remote servers as he backed up his data. I got what my employer wanted days ago. It's been delivered and I've been paid. But I haven't gotten what _I've_ wanted yet."

The thief raised her right hand and began to rub her fingers together, "When aliens invade, you find your world view turned upside down... Or so I would imagine that would be the case for most people. My... 'experiences' in Los Diablos opened my mind to what sort of impossibilities are actually reality some time ago."

Kim raised an eyebrow at the mention of Los Diablos. Her cousin Jen had only told her bits and pieces of the kind of things she encountered there, but it seemed like a dangerous place. If this thief used to skulk around that kind of city, then Kim needed to be on her toes.

The thief caught Kim's minute reaction to the Los Diablos comment. "I see you're not ignorant to what happens in that cesspit of a city. Well, suffice it to say, when I found out how _bad_ it truly was, I decided to get the heck out of dodge. I thought that I would never have to deal with those sorts of headaches ever again."

"But then... your little _graduation day_ wasn't limited to just you, now was it? You changed the game. Now there are bits and pieces of Lorwardian salvage all over this planet, with everybody trying to claim their stake. So now... now I need to keep myself sharp. Those moon-men made life difficult all over the planet. Like when your trig professor starts class with a pop quiz you weren't prepared for. And given that you were the one to attract the big green men from the Planet Xandalfar, I think you'll be the perfect test run for some of my new upgrades."

Ron was at attention now. Realizing that their opponent was targeting Kim directly, he had assumed a defensive Tai Shing Pek Kwar pose.

"How chivalrous," the thief noted at Ron's reaction, "Relax, ninja boy. I'm not going to hurt your cheerleader."

With a flick of her right wrist, three daggers seemingly made out of pale blue light manifested in between her fingers. Before Kim and Ron could react, she threw the daggers to her right, towards the windows. They became lodged within the glass, then began to flash in a rhythmic countdown. A notable explosion blew the glass outward, leaving the high elevation wind to blow into the office.

Kim and Ron lowered the arms they instinctively raised in order to shield themselves from the explosion. When the dust settled, the thief was standing with her back turned to broken window. She cocked her hip and raised her arms in a beckoning motion.

"Catch me if you can."

The thief did a backflip, sending her diving down out of the building. As Kim and Ron ran out to look for her, two threads of the same pale blue light shot upward. They landed on the concrete above Team Possible's heads, and the thief was catapulted up to the roof in the blink of an eye.

"I got this, KP!" Ron shouted. All it took was puffing out his chest, and that monkey-shaped shroud of energy flared to life around him, the screeching of a thousand monkeys carried on the wind. With a quick little hop, Ron shot upward like a bullet, crashing through the ceiling of Nakasumi's office straight through to the roof.

Kim coughed as more dust fell down around her from Ron's impromptu 'exit'. Once her eyes could see again, she saw the wreck that used to be Mr. Nakasumi's office. Glass, dust, bits of drywall and pieces of concrete littered the room. The statues and pictures of bright toys were all covered with debris.

"Ooh... Mr. Nakasumi is not going to be happy about this..." Kim groaned as she raised her right arm and shot her Kimmunicator's grapnel line upwards through Mr. Nakasumi's new skylight.

The roof of Nakasumi's corporate headquarters was as much of a hindrance to Ron's exit strategy as butter was to a hot knife. Exploding up into the air, Ron immediately searched the roof for the mystery thief. He soon saw her looking upward, with body language that could only describe her as being dumbfounded at the sight of what most people would consider a shonen manga hero come to life.

"Boo-ya!" Ron shouted as he used the energy around him to launch himself mid-air towards the thief on the roof, his left fist extended as he charged forwards. In his mind, he thought he acted too fast for the thief to react. At least, that was what he hoped in the split second he realized he had forced his fist right through her chest.

The moment seemed to linger for an eternity. Unlike with Warhok and Warmonga, who died far away and definitely deserved what they got, this was just some corporate thief. The first thing that entered his mind was "What's Kim going to think of me?"

That's when the thief shattered into what seemed to be thousands of glowing blue pieces of glass. And when Ron noticed that the 'thief' had dropped a black canister that had a ring of light flashing around its diameter. What happened next was difficult for Ron's mind to process. He was blinded by an intense white light as a massive wave of localized sound cascaded over his body, leaving his ears ringing and his body completely disoriented.

It was so bad Ron felt himself falling down on the roof. But since Ron was hobbled by the thief's flashbang grenade, he couldn't see the sparks of electricity form a humanoid silhouette behind him. As the thief broke her stealth field, she extended the index and middle fingers of both her hands as they became covered in arcs of electricity. Enhanced by the tasers in her fingertips, the thief landed a series of quick, light jabs to Ron's back and shoulders. As he spasmed from the shock, Ron fell forward in a slump, his face planted on the concrete and his rear end propped up in the air as his mystical aura dissipated.

By the time Kim made her way through Ron's renovation to Nakasumi's building, she was greeted with the sight of Ron's humiliating defeat. Kim used the momentum from her grapnel line to flip herself forward to the thief, landing on her feet and immediately setting off into a dash to engage her foe. The thief turned to face Kim, and simply stood her ground. As Kim closed the distance, she began to spin counterclockwise as she prepared to deliver a spin kick with her right leg.

Just before Kim's kick could connect, however, a sphere of translucent blue energy sprung into existence around the thief's body. Kim was able to adjust her foot in time to make it parallel to the sphere's perimeter, planting her foot on the surface and quickly raising her left foot to place it on the shield wall as well. Kim then used the momentum from her charge to propel herself off of the energy dome, flipping backwards to land on her feet and facing her barricaded opponent.

"Tch, Copycat much?" Kim quipped as she stared down her foe.

"Who says you're so original? I've been operating longer than you've had your little website," the thief responded as she deactivated her energy shield. She cracked her neck as she rolled her head and flexed her arms.

Not one to give up, Kim drew her hair dryer grapnel gun from her right thigh pouch and launched the line past the thief's head. She attached the line to an industrial fan and then pressed down on the handle, causing the line to retract and carry her forward to her target. In response, the thief casually raised her left hand, her hand covered with dancing electricity and placed a light grip on the grapnel line.

Kim managed to cover enough distance when she saw the electrical attack against her line, and immediately let go of the hair dryer to let it complete its trajectory towards the thief. As the electricity snaked its way up the line to the hair dryer itself, the thief began to dodge to her right. Her instincts served her well, for once the electricity reached the main gun, it exploded.

Now with the benefit of a smokescreen, Kim charged forward yet again. As she found her opponent within the acrid smoke, she jumped upward and began to deliver a downward strike with her right fist. The thief caught Kim's wrist with her left hand as it came down, her right hand over the antennae device on her right ear. As she fiddled with a dial, the lenses of goggles changed from bright red back to their normal blue. Kim responded with a swift kick to the thief's mid-section, which caused her enemy to drop her wrist to roll with the blow.

The thief quickly got back up to her feet as she recovered from Kim's kick.

"Clever girl. Jenny was right to sing praises about you."

A mild look of shock crept across Kim's face, "You know my cousin?"

"Know her? I wound up working with her more often than not. I was kind of her 'pet project'. She kept trying to get me to give up my lifestyle. She insisted that I had the potential to be more than a corporate saboteur. Just because I _can_ be a hero if it suits me doesn't mean the life is for me."

"If Jen thought you could be a hero, why didn't you try being one? You've got mad skills. You could go far as a hero!"

"Because I don't know what to _do_ with my life anymore!" the thief shouted back.

The two women stood silent for a moment after that. The thief placed her hand over her mask and began a depressed laugh to herself, "Heh... heh-heh… that was a bit personal, wasn't it, cheerleader?.. Dang it, Jenny... you're an ocean away and just talking about you gets under my skin..."

The thief lowered her hand and raised her face skyward. "I think that's enough fun and games for tonight. I'm not in the mood anymore. Catch you later, kiddo..." She twitched her right hand, causing a gauntlet of light to manifest around her forearm. Immediately, three copies of the thief flickered into existence in front of her.

"You seriously expect me to fall for the old 'hologram decoy' trick?" Kim said as she ran forward.

She expected to simply walk through the holograms, only to be blindsided when the hologram on the left landed a right hook to Kim's face. Kim swayed to her right, only to be punched by the hologram to her right as the central hologram kicked Kim in the stomach.

"My suit can make light solid, cheerleader." the thief stated as she vaulted over fans and pipes, aiming to run away to the opposite edge of the roof. The hologram copies began to beat Kim down, but unbeknownst to them, she managed to get on her feet. Kim reached down with both her hands and clicked something on her shoes.

Her rocket skates flared to life, and the force of their ignition caused Kim to burst past the hologram clones, shattering them in her wake. The speed of the skates made it a little difficult to navigate the usual obstacles you'd find on the roof of a major office building, but Kim vaulted, juked and pressed onward like nothing was in her way.

Kim had nearly closed the distance between herself and the thief when her quarry just jumped off of the side of the building. Kim reached out to grab the thief, but her ankles just barely slipped her grasp. As the rocket skates burned out, Kim looked down at her fleeing target, trying to think of a way to catch her. That was when the thief flipped in midair and landed on a platform of solid light that generated directly under her feet. The thief then used her momentum to vault further away, over the city streets by jumping from light platform to light platform.

Seeing the thief making her getaway, Kim reached for a ripcord located on her backpack, yanking it to extend her jet pack. She blasted off after the thief, a helmet attaching itself to her head from a waldo arm located in the main engine. As she bared down on her target, the Kimmunicator rang.

"Go, Wade." Kim responded as she raised the Kimmunicator to her face.

"Hey Kim. How's the Nakasumi case going?" Wade asked cheerfully as Kim raised her wrist-mounted communication device in front of her face.

"Well, the thief got the data days ago, Nakasumi's office is destroyed, Ron's knocked out cold, and I'm chasing some hologram cyberthief who is wearing some cheap knockoff of my battlesuit! So all in all, could be better!"

"Wait, what kind of thief?" Wade asked with mild excitement to his voice.

"Look for yourself." Kim said as she tried to position the Kimmunicator monitor as best she could to show Wade the thief running on light over the streets of Tokyo.

"Kim... do you know who that is?!" Wade asked, no longer able to hide his excitement.

"Let's say I don't."

"That's Cobalt! At least, I think it's her! She's supposed to be the BEST thief on the planet!"

"Okay, first of all, that's not a good thing to be excited about! Second, Shego is more famous than this headache!"

"Kim, just because someone is famous doesn't mean they're the best in their field. NOBODY has ever managed to capture Cobalt. Nobody even knows what she looks like under her helmet! Heck, she keeps upgrading her suit so often there isn't much to go on in regards to her appearance apart from her habit for using hard light constructs and the colour of her suit!"

"You almost sound like you idolize her, Wade..."

"She's also one of the best hackers on the planet. It's rumoured that's how she got her start, anyway. She hacked some secret military project, and then she just kept stealing hi-tech equipment to build her suit. The rumours about her and that suit... I had to try to see if hard light generation was possible!"

"Wait... don't tell me..." Kim gasped, "MY battlesuit is the cheap knockoff?!"

"Hey! I take offence to that! Your battlesuit is a 100% Wade original!" Wade retorted with a huff as he crossed his arms. Then a mildly embarrassed look worked its way onto his face. "I just… didn't have all the pieces when I made yours. Your suit was more of a proof of concept run than anything else."

"Not reassuring, Wade! And I don't have time to listen to you being her fanboy!" Kim snapped as she shut off the link to Wade.

...

Back on the roof of Nakasumi's corporate HQ, Ron was struggling to stand on his two feet. His body felt like it was made of jelly, and each attempt to move looked like a beached octopus flailing about. Somehow Ron wobbled to his feet, raised his left hand as if he were back in any of Mr. Barkin's classes and exclaimed,

"I've got this!"

Ron immediately faceplanted back into the concrete roof, his voice muffled from his compressed face,

"I don't got this!"

...

Kim looked down at Cobalt making her escape, and she had to admit: Cobalt could really move. She was keeping pace with Kim's jet pack as she essentially performed parkour with her light platforms over Shinjuku's streets. Though that was probably because Kim wasn't focusing on her task at hand, which was giving Cobalt a slight edge.

"Time to correct that," Kim thought to herself as she pressed down on the jet pack throttle handle and began to bare down on Cobalt.

The roar of Kim's jet pack clued Cobalt in to Kim's advancing charge. Turning her head, Cobalt calculated Kim's speed and rate of decline in her mind. She slid on her light platforms, turning herself around to face Kim again. She then began to jump from building to building side, her suit generating more platforms for Cobalt to jump off of as she began to close the distance between herself and Kim.

Kim didn't have the time to adjust her jet pack's trajectory as Cobalt changed her course. As Kim kept barrelling forward, Cobalt apparently jumped past Kim. Only for her to spin midair and launch a light thread grapnel line from her right gauntlet. The thin hologram cable connected to the back of Kim's jet pack, and then Cobalt began to retract her line, pulling her towards Kim.

"What are you _doing?!_ " Kim asked incredulously at her impromptu passenger.

"Clipping your wings, cheerleader."

With that, Cobalt's left hand sparked with electricity as she pressed it against Kim's jet pack. The jet pack began to spark and sputter from the damage from Cobalt's attack. Cobalt herself jumped off of Kim's back and began to run away on her platforms as Kim began to enter freefall. Seeing that her jetpack was having a major malfunction, Kim undid her straps to remove the jetpack just before it began to explode.

Kim immediately assessed her situation. Her grapnels wouldn't be enough to keep up with Cobalt and her rocket skates were out of fuel. The only way to continue the chase was to call in the Sloth. She immediately brought the Kimmunicator in front of her face and pressed the necessary sequence of buttons to summon the Sloth from Nakasumi's office parkade.

The Sloth roared to life deep underground and immediately began to burn rubber. The onboard nav-system deftly avoided all obstacles and people to make its way above ground. At which point, it immediately engaged its rocket systems to take flight. Escaping the ground, the Sloth began to bear down on Kim's location over the streets of Shinjuku.

Kim was starting to worry as the street was becoming ever closer. Thankfully, the sound of the Sloth's engines rebuilt her composure. Seeing her car close the distance, Kim shot out her Kimmunicator grapnel line to snag a street light just before she hit the pavement. The momentum gave her a pendulum effect as she began to swing back up into the air. The grapnel disconnected from the lamp and recoiled back into the Kimmunicator as Kim hung in midair for a moment just as the Sloth made its way under her.

With the sunroof open, Kim elegantly slipped into her driver's seat. The seat belts automatically buckled themselves around Kim's chest and she immediately began to gun the motor to resume her chase. A holographic display filled the interior of the windshield, showing a HUD and tracking system. It didn't take long to ping Cobalt's location above the streets. Her suit was emitting a powerful energy signature that read like a solar flare.

Cobalt was keeping pace with the jet pack. She would not outrun the Sloth. Something Cobalt herself realized when she heard the bellowing of rockets closing the distance on her.

"You just don't quit, do you cheerleader?"

Yet again, Cobalt turned to face Kim. She probably didn't have anything with her that packed enough of a punch to take out her rocket car. But she didn't have to. Jenny had told her a fair bit about the cheerleader's personality and what kind of hero she was. And after all, a vehicle was only as much of a threat as its operator.

Cobalt took a running charge with her platforms towards the Sloth that was closing in with dangerous speed. Just before impact, Cobalt jumped into the air and shot out her light cables to anchor herself to the flying car. As she landed on the hood of the Sloth, arcs of electricity danced out from the soles of her feet, magnetically anchoring her to the car.

Her position secure, she generated a pair of holographic knives, a dagger in each hand. She then sliced up the Sloth's windshield, causing the glass to crumble to pieces so she could talk to Kim.

"Didn't your parents tell you that 'no means no'?"

"Didn't y _our_ parents tell you that stealing is wrong?" Kim responded.

"Like I had model parents." As she said that, Cobalt took out a black cylinder from off her belt.

She clicked a button on the end of the cylinder, and a pair of rings of blue light began to flash around its diameter. Cobalt then casually threw it to her side, letting it fall away from the Sloth... and into active traffic. It wasn't long until a bright flash of light exploded down on street level as the Sloth continued to fly away. Kim looked back in shock and horror, while Cobalt stood up on the hood of the Sloth.

"Looks like you have a choice to make, cheerleader." Cobalt said as she cocked her hips and raised her hands in mock surprise.

Cobalt disengaged the magnetic effects of her boots and promptly jumped off the Sloth, using her light cables to swing away. She then hopped along her platforms to make her way to street level and promptly engaged her stealth field just before she landed on the ground. Kim, for her part, swerved the Sloth around as fast as she could so she could get to the spot where the flashbang detonated.

The light from the flashbang was beginning to recede, but the people at the intersection were still blinded and disoriented from the sonic detonation. There was a young, college-aged couple stopped right in the middle of the crosswalk. And a large cargo truck heading towards them. For what it was worth, the driver of the truck saw the disoriented couple and tried to hit the brakes. But a vehicle of that size doesn't stop on a dime.

Seeing a tragedy about to happen, Kim accelerated the Sloth's motor and flew past the cargo truck. She pulled up the video link in the dashboard and called up her brothers, who were evidently eating their cereal in the breakfast nook..

"Jim! Tim! Please tell me I can fire the new winch line without the windshield targeting system?!" Kim frantically asked.

"What happened to the windshield?" Jim asked hesitantly.

"CAN I FIRE THE WINCH WITHOUT IT?!"

"You should..." Tim began to respond, but Kim had heard all that she needed to.

Kim flipped some switches on the dashboard, and a segment of the front hood retracted as the hood ornament extended upward to become a sight. A coil of heavy cable revealed itself, and Kim had only a few seconds align herself as best she could to help stop the cargo truck. She got the Sloth above and behind the truck's cargo area, with the Sloth angled downward. She pressed a button on the drive stick and fired the winch line.

By some miraculous stroke of luck, the winch connected with the cargo box of the truck. Kim immediately slammed on the brakes and began to pull back on the steering wheel as she fought against the truck's momentum. Between the efforts of Kim, the Sloth and the driver of the truck, they all somehow managed to stop the truck just mere inches away from hitting the couple in the crosswalk.

...

"KP? When did you become a triplet?" Ron asked woozily as he sat on the edge of an ambulance.

When Kim got back to Nakasumi's HQ, a media circus had formed. It was to be expected, really. For all intents and purposes, Nakasumi's CEO office exploded. There were emergency workers assessing the damage to the building and reporters pressing against a police line, pestering the officers with questions and making live reports.

There were a few paramedics and ambulances behind the barricade examining those who wound up being tased by Cobalt. Thankfully, Nakasumi's employees suffered no lasting damage. If anything, Ron was the one who wound up hurt the most. But even then, the paramedics assured Kim that he was to make a full recovery. He wouldn't even need a hospital stay.

"Heh... In your dreams, Ron." Kim said with a chuckle.

"Possible-san!" a familiar voice cried out over the commotion surrounding the immediate area.

Kim turned around to see Ms. Kyoko and Mr. Nakasumi approaching them at their ambulance. They were always an eye-capturing sight. The tall and beautiful Ms. Kyoko in her red silk dress and headband nicely contrasting with the short and stocky, but always friendly Mr. Nakasumi. Despite the chaos that happened tonight, Mr. Nakasumi didn't seem too upset. If anything, he seemed relieved given the wide smile he had on his face.

"Thank heavens that you're both alright. When we heard there was an explosion, we began to worry." Ms. Kyoko stated with relief.

"Though not too worried, given your exploits." Mr. Nakasumi said with a little mirth to his voice.

"Mr. Nakasumi, I am so, so sorry." Kim said as she came forward to apologize, "The thief managed to get your data when you transferred everything to your remote servers a few days ago. This was all an elaborate setup so she could use me as a guinea pig for her new equipment upgrades."

Chuckling, Mr. Nakasumi raised a hand as if to try and reassure Kim, "Do not worry, Possible-san. I wouldn't have gotten where I am today by keeping every project online." As he said that last part, he turned his hand towards his head and began to poke his temple with his index finger.

"But-" Kim began to protest.

"Possible-san, we will recover from this. We do not know exactly what the thief was after, but we are a toy company. It is not like we are developing bio-weapons or doomsday devices. We might take a hit on the quarterly profits, but life is not about profits. Especially when we strive to make children happy." Mr. Nakasumi said with a wide smile.

"Did you at least assess who the thief was and who employed him?" Ms. Kyoko enquired.

"Her." Kim responded.

"Her?"

"The thief was a woman. Some high-tech cyberninja that Wade seems to think is someone called 'Cobalt'. Oh, speaking of Wade, I should apologize to him next time we speak, I was a bit rude when-"

Kim's train of thought was cut off by Mr. Nakasumi's laughter. "Cobalt was behind this? I should be flattered someone went to the expense to hire her. But in truth, I pity the poor fool who sought a deal with someone as unpredictable as her."

Kim and Ron turned to each other and gave each other looks of confusion. "Let me explain," Mr. Nakasumi started, "While Cobalt is indeed the best in her line of work, lately dealing with her has become a double-edged sword. While she delivers her services promptly and efficiently, almost always companies that have hired her have recently been finding their 'dirty laundry' being revealed to the public. Nothing has been proven, but where there is smoke..."

"You're saying this Cobalt turns on her employers after she's been paid?" Ron asked with confusion.

"So much for honour among thieves..." Kim said under her breath.

"Who knows what is going on in such a mind? At any rate, if Cobalt was hired, I'd wager whoever requested this theft is not going to be able to benefit from whatever data they stole from me for very long." Mr. Nakasumi said with confidence.

"What a relief," Ms. Kyoko sighed, "So all this will truly cost us in the long run is some renovations to the building."

"I was thinking of redecorating anyway." Mr. Nakasumi joked.

"Possible-san, for your efforts tonight, we would like to compensate you for your services. In addition to paying for your flight to and from Tokyo, we will repair your automobile. In addition, while your vehicle is being fixed, we will put both you and Stoppable-san up in our company suite in one of Tokyo's premier upscale hotels." Ms. Kyoko said with a quick bow.

"Boo-ya! Impromptu Tokyo vacay!" Ron shouted as he jumped off the ambulance. Then he immediately fell to his knees, clutching his head in pain. "Ooh-ooh-ooh!.. Too soon for loud noises and quick movements..."

Kim leaned down and put her left arm around Ron, saying with a smile, "I think we can find plenty of nice, quiet things to do in a hotel room for a couple of days."

With a sheepish chuckle, Ron said, "Heh-heh, boo-ya."

 **Author's Notes**

 **So here is Cobalt! I had the idea for this story brew in my mind after seeing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse back in December. The scene that particularly inspired this story is the "What's Up, Danger?" scene where Miles Morales becomes Spider-Man for the first time and starts to parkour over a neon lit New York City.**

 **As you might expect, Cobalt is a mild fusion of Spider-Man and Iron Man with a bit of Kasumi Goto from Mass Effect added to the mix. But instead of a hero, she's a corporate saboteur. Cobalt initially only existed as a one paragraph reference in Blackbird's Maternal Instinct fic where Jen Credible lists some of her rogues gallery. When I asked Blackbird about Cobalt, all he could really remember about her is that she had a pair of goggles that allowed her to see in multiple light spectrums.**

 **I pretty much took the "light" gimmick and ran with it as I fleshed out Cobalt's character. All of which was approved by Blackbird before I started writing. So there you have it. Kim just crossed blows with one of Jen's rogues. Depending on how the creative process hits me, I might write another short story as a sequel to this one.**


End file.
